1. The field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of reducing the incidence of infectious diseases in livestock. In another of its aspects, the invention also is concerned with a method of relieving stress in livestock while simultaneously reducing the incidence of infectious diseases.
2. The Prior Art
Herds of livestock, i.e., domestic animals collectively such as cattle, sheep, horses and swine are often fed, watered and/or housed together. A common food and water supply is usually provided which is accessible to all of the individual members of the herd. It is usually not practical to maintain the individual members of the herd in isolation or provide individual sources of food and water, and thus the individual members of the herd are constantly in intimate contact with each other and eat and drink from the same food and water sources. As a result, infectious diseases spread very rapidly throughout the herd when introduced. Livestock diseases such as pneumonia, water belly, bloat, scours, red nose, foot rot, coccidiosis and septicemia are especially difficult to control and cause large financial losses to the livestock industry each year.
A wide variety of medicines and treatments have been proposed heretofore for preventing or controlling the aforementioned livestock diseases. However, such medicines and treatments have not proved to be entirely satisfactory in all respects due to one or more inherent deficiencies such as high medicinal costs, ineffective medicines or treatments, and high labor costs and/or inconvenience when administering the medicines or treatments. Additionally, in a number of instances the available medicines and treatments were specific for only one or a limited number of the aforementioned diseases, and they were not effective against all of the wide spectrum of livestock diseases to which an average herd is subjected.
The raising or housing of livestock in large herds under crowded conditions also tends to cause stress and the livestock is often nervous irritable and/or easily frightened. This is especially true with respect to young or small animals such as calves and yearlings, and animals which must be handled frequently such as dairy cows. Additionally, livestock is often subjected to other physical and environmental conditions which cause stress such as snowstorms, lack of food or water, accidents which result in bruises, sprains and open wounds, and irritations and infections in general. Prolonged stress adversely affects the nurture, growth, appearance and general well being of the livestock. Livestock under stress is also less stable, much harder to handle, and requires additional labor. The aforementioned effects of stress can increase a rancher's operating costs very substantially unless the stress is relieved.
The prior art has long sought an inexpensive, effective and generally satisfactory method of reducing the incidence of a wide spectrum of the infectious livestock diseases mentioned above, and especially a method of controlling stress in livestock while simultaneously reducing the incidence of infectious disease. However, such a method was not available prior to the present invention.